U.S. Department of Transportation Office ofthe Secretary OfTransportation



### May 24,2012
Mr. Russ Machen AirportManager Cortez Municipal Airport 210 E. 

### Main Street Cortez, CO 81321
DearMr. Machen: \

1200 NewJerseyAve., S.E. Washington. DC 20590



### I would like to update you on the Essential Air Service situation at Cortez, Colorado and give· you an opportunity to submit any comments if you wish. In anticipation of the end of Great Lakes' current contract on July 31, 2012, the Department issued Order 2012-4-21, on April16, 2012, to solicit proposals from all interested air carriers to provide service at Alamosa and/or Cortez, Colorado. In response to that Order, we received one proposal from the incumbent air carrier, GreatLakes, to provideEAS atbothcommunities. · A copy of the proposal is attached and may be accessed online through the Department's Dockets Management Systen11 at: http://www.regulations.gov/ by entering "DOT-OST-1997- 2960" and "DOT-OST-1998-3508" in th.e "Enter Keyword or ID" field, so we wiH only briefly summarizethe proposalhere. Great Lakes' ·proposal would continue to offer three round trips per day between Alamosa and Denverutilizing a 19-seatBeechcraft 1900D aircraft, for an atmual subsidy of$2,078,676. Additionally, Great Lakes proposes to continue EAS operations at Cortez with three round trips per day between Cmtez and Denver utilizing a 19-seat Beechcraft 19000 aircraft, for an annual subsidy of$2,240,766.
We want to give you an oppmtunity to submit any formal comments for the record before we· submit a recommendation to the Assistant Secretary for Aviation and International Affairs. We requestthat you submit any conunents you mayhave as soon as possible, butin any case no later than June 15, 2012. We wiU carefully consider your comments before we submit a recommendation to the Assistant Secretary for a decision. If you have any questions or 

### if you find that you need.additional timeto draft your comments. please let meknow.

### Please send your comments to me at the following email address: EAS@dot.gov or by fax to 202-366-7838. If you have any questions, please feel free to contact me at scott.faulk@dot.gov or 202-366-9967.

# S~·~// ScottFaulk / Essential Air ServiceDivision Office ofAviation Analysis U.S. Department ofTransportation Enclosure**,..----------~------------**



## Before the United States Department ofTransportation 

## Washington, DC

Essential Air Service at

. ALAMOSA, COLORADO CORTEZ, COLORADO under49 U.S.C. 41731 et.seq. 

## May 15, 2012

DocketOST-1997-2960 DocketOST-1998-3508

This document contains Great Lakes Aviation, Ltd.'s response to Order Requesting Proposals 2012-4-21. Great Lakes Aviation, Ltd. is pleased to submit these proposals to provide essential air transportation atthese points in Colorado. These proposals are submitted on a stand alone basis. Our proposals contemplate conveniently timed connecting services to our Denver hub, whereby passengers may utilize our code-share agreements with United Airlines and FrontierAirlines. Local service will be marketed and priced utilizing the Great Lakes (ZK) brand and reservations system. Additionally, Great Lakes maintains intE!rline tioketing c:1nd baggage agreements with the majority ofthe other carrier:s servin!i} Denver, including interline e'"ticketing agreements with American Airlines, Delta Airlines, FrontierAirlines, United Airlines and U.S. Airways. All of which will offer passengers traveling to and from these communities supplemental access to the domestic and international airtransportation system.

These proposals assume the use of pressurized 19 seat Beechcraft 1900D airliner equipment. Questions and comments may be referred to: Michael 

### 0. Matthews Chief Financial Officer Great Lakes Aviation, Ltd. 1022 Airport Parkway Cheyenne, VVY 82001 (307) 432-7000TableofContents:SubsidyPassengersAverageProposalServicePoint(s)Hub(s)ServedRoundTripsEquipmentRequirementForecastFare1Alamosa,ColoradoDenver31900D$2,078,67615,000$102.722Cortez,ColoradoDenver31900D$2,240,76616,000$127.98Departures: Block Hours: 

# Great Lakes Aviation, Ltd. Annual Compensation Requirements for Essential Air Service at 

### Alamosa, Colorado to Denver (DEN) Three Round Trips

- 81900 (at98 percent completion)

Revenue Passenger Miles: Available Seat Miles:
Operating Revenues: Passenger: 15,000 psgrs at $102.72 $1,540,800

Other: (at 0.62% ofpassenger revenue) $9,553
Total Operating Revenues:

. Operating Expenses: · 1 Direct: Aircraft and Hull Insurance Fuel and Oil $365,710 $1,057,245

$317,003 $512,429 Flying Operations Maintenance Total Direct Expenses: Total Indirect Expenses: Total Operating Expenses: Operating Loss Profit Element (5.0% ofTotal Operating Expenses) Annual Compensation Requirement: Representative Schedule *** [ALS] Alamosa, Colorado ***

--·----------------- 0 E P A R T U R E S**-------------~------** FLT TO OPT ARR EQP 7263 DEN 6:00 7:00 BE1 7263 DEN 8:00 9:00 BE1 7264 DEN 10:45 11:45 BE1 7269 DEN 16:28 17:28 BE1

-------------------- A R R I V A L S**-----------~--------** FLT FROM OPT ARR EQP 7305 DEN 12:15 13:13 BE1 7268 DEN 15:20 16:18 BE1 7258 DEN 20:58 21:56 BE1 7258 DEN 20:58 21:56 BE1 No Upline Scheduling Restrictions FREQ 12345

6 12345 7 12345 7
FREQ 12345 12345 7 6 . 12345 7 1,840 1,810 2,685,000 6,257,840

$1,550,353

$2,252,387 $1,203,831 $3,456,218 ($1 ,905,865) $172,811 $2,078,676

# Great Lakes Aviation, ltd. Annual Compensation Requirements for Essential Air Service at 

### Cortez, Colorado to Denver (DEN) Three Round Trips- 81900 (at 98 percent completion)
Departures: Block Hours: Revenue Passenger Miles: Available Seat Miles:
Operating Revenues: Passenger: 16,000 psgrs at $127.98 $2,047,680

Other: (at 0.62% ofpassenger revenue) $12,696
Total Operating Revenues:
Operating Expenses: Direct: Aircraft and Hull Insurance Fuel and Oil Flying Operations Maintenance $365,710 $1,373,084

$411,054 $586,411
Total Direct Expenses: Total Indirect Expenses: Total Operating Expenses: Operating Loss Profit Element (5.0% ofTotal Operating Expenses) Annual Compensation Requirement: Representative Schedule 

### *** [CEZ] Cortez, Colorado 

### ***

-------------------- D E P A R T U R E S -------------------· FLT TO OPT ARR EQP 7261 DEN 6:00 7:13 BE1 7261 DEN 6:45 7:58 BE1 7263 DEN 8:05 9:18 !3E1 7267 DEN 16:17 17:30 BE1

---------··-········A R R I V A L S ····--·-··---------· FLT FROM OPT ARR EQP 7262 DEN 8:35 21:55 BE1 7266 DEN 14:43 16:03 BE1 7267 DEN 16:45 18:05 BE1 7270 DEN 20:56 22:16 BE1 No Upline Scheduling Restrictions FREQ 12345

6 1234567 12345 7

FREQ 1234567 12345 7 6 12345 7 1,840 2,347 4,448,000 9,718,880

$2,060,376

$2,736,259 $1,360,067 $4,096,326 ($2,035,950) $204,816 $2,240,766